Presidential Population Health Agenda – Promoting Mental Health.
Due to its ability to impact millions of people in communities and across all ages, mental Health has emerged as one of the largest population health concerns in the United States. Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidal ideation can negatively impact quality of life, cause unemployment, lead to homelessness, and drive-up healthcare costs. With the growing number of Americans experiencing mental health issues, Mental Health has become a topic on the presidential agenda. Mental health issues in individuals and families can have a significant impact on the healthcare system and the economy, as federal leaders acknowledge (Magomedova & Fatima, 2025).
Factors that affect Mental Health such as Social determinants of Health.
Access to health care is one of the key social determinants of Health that impacts mental Health. Many factors contribute to people in low-income areas not being able to receive mental health care, such as lack of insurance coverage, high costs of care, limited mental health care providers, and limited mental health facilities in rural and underserved areas. When people are not able to access counselling, therapy or medication, their mental disorders tend to deteriorate, and they may end up using drugs, getting admitted to hospital or attempting suicide. High levels of inequities in mental health among vulnerable groups are therefore further compounded by restricted access to health care (Kirkbride et al., 2024).
Mental health is the topic of Barack Obama’s approach.
In his health care reform and awareness campaign, President Obama referenced mental Health. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), mental health care is now a mandated health benefit and a larger percentage of Americans will have insurance coverage for mental health care. Obama also announced efforts to increase access to mental health resources at schools and in communities, as well as to bolster access to mental health resources for veterans and young adults. He called for early interventionism, reduced the stigma associated with mental illness and championed prevention. Such policies were an important step in improving access to mental health care for many Americans who had no coverage in the past.
How Donald Trump thinks about mental Health.
President Trump also talked about mental health issues, such as the opioid crisis and suicide prevention. His administration worked to expand mental health services for veterans and enacted legislation to help the national suicide prevention hotline. But, any changes to portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could have made it more difficult for people who required mental health care to receive it, critics said. Obama was broader based with his health care reform, whereas Trump focused on “crisis intervention” and more specific programs.
Two Presidential Approaches. Two Presidential Approaches.
BOTH presidents discussed Mental Health – they had different approaches. While Obama centered on access to mental Health; Trump centered on crisis response programs and mental health-specific programs; and Obama’s mental health integration into health care reform. Obamas was more prevention and getting access to long-term care, and Trump’s was more intervention and support services. However, I feel that better access to medicine is more effective, for long-term mental health improvement, regular treatment and prevention programs are necessary, and this can be achieved at a more affordable cost for everybody.
What would you do differently if you were to do it all over again?
As a health care provider, I would be interested in increasing the federal funding of community mental health centers, expanding the school-based mental health services, and increasing access to telehealth counseling services in rural areas. I would also create stronger policies that would allow those with no income to receive mental health services. In addition, more public education needs to be developed to combat the stigma and motivate people to get help before they become seriously ill.
References
Kirkbride, J. B., Anglin, D. M., Colman, I., Dykxhoorn, J., Jones, P. B., Patalay, P., Pitman, A., Soneson, E., Steare, T., Wright, T., & Griffiths, S. L. (2024). The social determinants of mental Health and disorder: evidence, prevention and recommendations. World Psychiatry, 23(1), 58–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21160
Magomedova, A., & Fatima, G. (2025). Mental Health and wellbeing in the Modern Era: A Comprehensive Review of Challenges and Interventions. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.77683
Obama Foundation. (2025). In depth: How the Affordable Care Act changed America. Obama Foundation. https://www.obama.org/stories/13-years-aca/
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A PLAGIARISM – FREE PAPER
is little wonder why healthcare items become such high profile components of presidential
agendas. It is also little wonder why they become such hotly debated agenda items.
Consider a topic (mental health, HIV, opioid epidemic, pandemics, obesity, prescription drug prices,
or many others) that rises to the presidential level. How did the current and previous presidents
handle the problem? What would you do differently?
Reference:
New York State Department of Health. (n.d.). Making New York the healthiest state: Achieving the
triple aim . Retrieved June 21, 2021 from
https://www.health.ny.gov/events/population_health_summit/docs/what_is_population_health.pdf
RESOURCES
To Prepare:
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
(https://waldenu.instructure.com/courses/226506/modules/items/9722108)
Review the Resources and reflect on the importance of agenda setting.
Consider how federal agendas promote healthcare issues and how these healthcare issues
become agenda priorities.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 1
Post your response to the discussion question: Consider a population health topic that rises to the
presidential agenda level. Which social determinant most affects this health issue? How did two
recent presidents handle the problem? What would you do differently?
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 1
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by expanding on their response
and providing an example that supports their explanation or respectfully challenging their
explanation and providing an example.
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